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Desert Punk Series
This article is about the manga and anime series. For the title character, see Kanta Mizuno. Desert Punk (砂ぼうず Sunabōzu) is a post-apocalyptic manga series written and illustrated by Masatoshi Usune, serialized in Enterbrain's Comic Beam since 1997, and the published chapters comprise of 13 volumes. In 2004, the animation studio GONZO made a 24 episode anime adaptation. The anime has been licensed in North America by FUNimation Entertainment, but the manga has only seen distribution outside of Japan in France. On August 13, 2009, A Japanese manga site known as Comic Natalie announce that Usune is picking up the manga once again in Comic Beam in the September 12 issue. Plot and Premise After an implied nuclear catastrophe, like many other countries, Japan has been reduced to a desolate wasteland and the surviving humans seek out a meager living in the hot sands. Desert Punk focuses on the adventures of a desert handyman called Kanta Mizuno, nicknamed Desert Punk (Sunabōzu), due to his seemingly incredible feats of skill and daring while on the job. Throughout the series, he acquires an apprentice and makes allies as well as enemies. Much of the comedy presented in Desert Punk is dark humor. Due to the decrepid lifestyle and surroundings of the Great Kanto Desert, the majority of the characters are rather morbid and sarcastic, especially the lead character, Kanta Mizuno. The anime lessens the dark humor slightly for a more light-hearted slapstick approach, though the sadistical nature of the characters are left in tact. To tie along with the dark tone of the series, a recurring theme in Desert Punk is human fault. The characters are portrayed as lying, greedy individuals who are far too ignorant and blinded by their basic human instincts to change anything and make the desert a livable place. The narrator in the anime makes note of this several times. In the English dub, he often refers to the characters as "dumbasses." Characters See List of Desert Punk Characters. Manga Chapters See List of Desert Punk Chapters. Anime Episodes See List of Desert Punk Episodes. Reception The series has seen moderate popularity in Japan, boasting approximately 70,000 copies per volume of the manga. The anime has had similar appraisal on various review websites. Critics take note of the unique humor and applaud the fight scenes. Kanta Mizuno's character has also seen critical acclaim for his being not an everyday anime protagonist. Music Opening Themes * "Sand Mission" by Zetki (episodes 1–12) * "DESTINY OF THE DESERT" by YUKA (episodes 13–23) Closing Themes * "Sunabōzu Ekakiuta" by Hideaki Takatori (episodes 1–12) * "Mirage" by YUKA (episodes 13–23) Similarities and Homages to other series * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigun Trigun]: The Trigun series seems to be used very loosely as a base for the setting of Desert Punk. Both take place on a desolate wasteland, and both have a lead character with a feared reputation and are known as womanizers. Both series have a theme about humanity being imperfect and most of the action revolves around gunfire. Both series even have the same lead art designer for the anime, Takahiro Yoshimatsu. * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardcaptor_Sakura Cardcaptor Sakura]: In various fantasies Kosuna has about becoming Kanto Desert's Greatest Power Babe, she is seen cosplaying as Sakura Kinomoto, the lead character of Cardcaptor Sakura. This may just be a nod to the magical girl genre in general, but the appearance matches Sakura the most. * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_%28comics%29 Hulk]: There is a medical condition known as Hulk Syndrome in the Desert Punk series. The only shown cases in the show are Makoto Kawazu of the Kawazu Gang and Mitz.